In a bid to curtail the rising cases of cyber-attacks in Nigeria’s financial service sector, ActivEdge Technologies, a Pan-African IT Solutions Provider with headquarters in Lagos, alongside Fortinet, cybersecurity platform, has announced plans to organise a symposium on how cybersecurity technologies can mitigate risk.
The financial services sector is a high-value target for cyberattacks and highly regulated by jurisdictions around the world. Despite efforts, information technology (IT) solutions for financial services often find it difficult to move from a reactive cybersecurity stance to a proactive one.
“Ensuring cyber -attacks are minimal, is not just in providing the solution, but also in making sure the gatekeepers have access to modern technologies that can ensure safer transactions,” George Agu, Managing Director, ActivEdge Technologies said.
A survey titled ‘Financial Services Cybersecurity Survey 2021’ by one of the “Big Four” accounting organisations and the largest professional services Deloitte showed endpoint and cloud security are two of the top-of-mind challenges for financial services organisations.
While the rate of cyber-attacks is on the rise, solution companies including ActivEdge and Fortinet advise that organisations should pay attention to the current trends of the technology that they use, the capacity of the people, the processes that are in place, by doing so, they will be able to mitigate cyber risks.
“We’ve got an end-to-end solution, like a suit, to enable you to go with us from end to end. We also have one single management console, where you manage our solutions from one platform. And that saves you a whole lot of cost, instead of hiring different people to manage different solutions,” Biodun Adewoye, Fortinet representative said.
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Also, experts say organisations need to be aware, as well as up to date of the mediums attackers use in penetrating into their websites. “If you sit down and want to operate in the past, I tell you, these guys are as current as the solutions we come up with. Hence, they should open up themselves to more information on how they can be protected because the information is out there,” Adewoye added.
Beyond Cyber-attacks, ActivEdge Technologies is also focused on educating its clients on Zero Trust.
Zero Trust is a security framework requiring all users, whether in or outside the organisation’s network, to be authenticated, authorised, and continuously validated for security configuration and posture before being granted or keeping access to applications and data.
Built on multiple layers, Zero Trust is based on lease privileges. It is possible to deny everybody access until they are verified, after which access is granted to them. This is to ensure that cyber-attacks are blocked ahead of time.
Since its inception in Nigeria in 2010, ActivEdge Technologies has seen security challenges heightened particularly in the financial services sector. As companies, banks, financial services institutions, fintechs, among others are now operating in a global environment, so are these threats. This translates to why there is more focus on the financial sector.
Fortinet is a cybersecurity company that offers solutions that cut across all security domains, including network security, data security, wireless security, infrastructure security, within any environment. With a focus on the financial sector, these solutions do not allow penetration of damages to the financial organisations.
